To reduce unsustainably high levels of e-waste, an expert in green chemistry at Swedish research institute Research Institutes of Sweden (RISE) has switched his focus from pulp to wood in a bid to make consumer electronic devices that have no carbon footprint and are easier to recycle.<\/p>\n
Dr. Valerio Beni and his colleagues discovered that producing pulp and turning it into paper for a new generation of electronics required burning too much energy for the effort to be as environmentally friendly as they had hoped. \u201cSo we thought, why don\u2019t we take a step back and go to the initial material for making paper?\u201d said Beni. \u201cThat is wood.\u201d<\/p>\n
He leads a research project to explore ways to make consumer electronics with wood-based materials. Called HyPELignum, the project runs for four years through September 2026 and brings together research institutes, a university and industry representatives from Austria, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Spain.<\/p>\n
The life cycles of current electronics are unsustainable. In addition to the energy and raw materials needed for production, the gadgets result in mountains of waste once they get discarded.<\/p>\n
In 2022, the world generated a record 62 billion metric tons of e-waste\u2014or 7.8 kilograms per person\u2014with Europe producing 17.6 billion metric tons, more than any other region, according to United Nations data. That worldwide mountain has almost doubled from 34 billion metric tons in 2010 and is projected to increase to 82 billion metric tons by 2030.<\/p>\n
In addition to growing fast, e-waste is complex to manage, according to the UN. In 2022, only about a fifth of global e-waste was recycled\u2014although Europe fared better by recycling around 43%.<\/p>\n
Circuit boards are the main component of e-waste. As much as 60% of the environmental impact of electronics is caused by a device\u2019s circuit board, according to Beni. The boards are a layered matrix of materials\u2014usually resins, plastics and copper, which are hard to recycle. They\u2019re etched to imprint metal circuits, onto which electronic components can be soldered.<\/p>\n
As an alternative, the HyPELignum team is developing two types of wooden circuit board. One is made of thin layers of wood, a bit like plywood. The other is constructed from cellulose fibers extracted from wood and wood waste. \u201cThe idea is to try and replace some of the high carbon-intensive materials in electronics with low carbon-intensive material,\u201d Beni said.<\/p>\n
The circuits are printed\u2014rather than etched\u2014onto the wooden boards using conductive metal inks developed by the project. These inks also contain cellulose and bio-based plastics produced from wood. At the end of their life, the wooden boards should be easier to recycle than traditional circuit boards. It might even be possible to compost them.<\/p>\n
A key challenge with recycling electronics is separating the components from the circuit boards. To tackle this, the HyPELignum researchers are developing thermally and chemically degradable layers that can be placed between the wood and the printed circuits.<\/p>\n
When these are destroyed at the end of a product\u2019s life, the circuits and electrical components fall off the wood. The wooden board and the mainly metal circuit and components can then be sent to different recycling streams.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, the degradable layers are also derived from wood. The project has been producing them from lignin extracted from wood waste.<\/p>\n
Such \u201cgreen chemistry\u201d emits much less carbon dioxide (CO2) by featuring biogenic materials that can be renewed rather than fossil oil, according to Beni. \u201cWood and biogenic materials are more or less zero in terms of CO2 impact,\u201d he said. \u201cThey absorb CO2 to grow and then they release the same CO2 when used.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Image: Courtesy of: CC0 Public Domain.<\/p>\n
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For more information:<\/p>\n
RISE Research Institutes of Sweden<\/p>\n